Dr. Kathy D. Schlecht is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology at Oakland University William Beaumont Medical School.  She is a Faculty Development Scholar in Clinical Teaching certified by Stanford University to provide a 20-hour course on Clinical Teaching.  She has also taught anesthesiologists from many countries as a faculty member for the Workshop on Teaching, sponsored by the Society of Education in Anesthesia.  

Dr. Schlecht performs consultant work for anesthesia residency programs across the nation addressing their specific needs and has successfully helped programs placed on probation.  She has been an invited guest speaker to numerous academic institutions to provide faculty development sessions on medical education.

She was honored to receive the Outstanding American Medical Women’s Association Mentor Award in 2015, the American Society of Anesthesiology Mentor Program Award in 2017, and the American Society of Anesthesiology Outstanding Anesthesia Interest Group Award or the Most Innovative Award several times for which she is the Faculty Director. The Outstanding Clinical Teacher Award for OUWB School of Medicine in 2018. The Society of Education in Anesthesia Duke Award for Excellence and Innovation in Anesthesia Education in 2019.

Nationally, she is a member of the Past-Presidents Council for the Society of Education in Anesthesia (SEA), having served as the Society’s President from 2006-2008.  She served as a member of the SEA Faculty Development Committee, Resident Committee, and the Medical Student Committee.   Kathy Schlecht serves on the Advisory Group on Physician Health and Wellness for the American Society of Anesthesia. She was a long-standing member of the Committee on Resident and Medical Students and the Sub-Committee Abstract Review on History and Education.  In 2007, Dr. Schlecht created the National Leadership Program for Chief and Senior Residents in Anesthesia.

In 2008, Dr. Schlecht was recruited to William Beaumont Hospital, in Royal Oak, Michigan, to establish a new anesthesiology residency program.   Institutionally, she expanded the Resident as Teachers Program beyond the Stanford Clinical Teaching course into a full year curriculum.  Upon the opening of Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine in 2010, she was asked to provide numerous Faculty Development sessions for the Center of Excellence in Medical Education for both the clinical and biomedical science faculty of the medical school.  

Previously, Dr. Schlecht held the positions of Vice Chair for Education, Residency Director, and Clerkship Director for the Department of Anesthesiology at Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, Michigan. As Director of the Anesthesia Residency, she improved the board scores of the residents from below the 25%ile to above the 95%ile by making changes to the curriculum and conducting faculty development sessions.  She completed her anesthesiology residency at the University of Michigan and attended the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine.